Dipped Shortbread Biscuits - Gift Ideas

I know I have been blogging a lot lately, but there seems to be a lot going on baking wise! I made these chocolate dipped short bread biscuits for a very over due Christmas present for my boyfriends Grandparents, as I left the Christmas shaped, iced sugar biscuits and the biscuit bird jar at home in Wales when we visited Tom's family over the festive season.

But as they are visiting I thought I would finally make them some (fresh) biscuits! I got the idea from London Bakes recipe for Vanilla Bean Short Bread and thought they were a classic biscuit that I had never tried to make myself. In the end I used a recipe from BBC Food and it worked out perfectly. They made 20 short bread rounds that tasted sweet and buttery. I wanted to give them a little bit of an extra sweetness and make them pretty to put in the glass jar, so I decided I would dip one side into melted chocolate. To the recipe on the link I added a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla extract. I also made them without a rolling pin or cutters...so work that one out! but I have hit the Lakeland website hard this week so will be expecting a few kitchen essentials to be delivered soon!

However, they turned out really well and I hope they like them, even though they are a little late! Now that I know how easy it is to make shortbread I will definitely be making it more often. Such a simple recipe with simple ingredients. I would love to make some chocolate chip shortbread cookies or maybe the Vanilla bean biscuits from London Bakes. The glass bird jar is from The Wallace Collection Museum gift shop and it comes in two sizes, I think filled with biscuits this can make a great home made present.

Dipped Shortbread Biscuits

In other baking-related news, I have some bad news... I did not make the finalists for the cupcake challenge! No surprise there really! I am a total beginner at boiling eggs, so I wasn't overly heartbroken. I will defiantly be entering competitions like that in the future. It was really fun to be given a theme and make something of your own and get creative. Check out the finalists, they all look amazing! Also if you are like me and need some help with your decorating skills then try this Stained Glass Butter Icing course at the V&A Museum. Although it is my two favourite things combined (museums and baking) I am too poor from ordering piping bags and rolling pins, but if you do go enjoy!